Australia to crack down on match-fixing and doping in sport

CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government has promised to crack down on match-fixing after a report into doping and organised crime in sport revealed those links had led to manipulation of results.

The report by the Australian Crime Commission found the use of illicit substances was 'widespread' in Australian sport and often facilitated by organised crime syndicates.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare told a news conference there was a risk of players involved in the use of drugs might be co-opted into match-fixing. No details of match fixing were made public.

Sports Minister Kate Lundy said the government would encourage sports to establish "integrity units" and engage the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency and law enforcement agencies to root out the problems.

"If you want to cheat, we will catch you, if you want to fix a match, we will catch you," Lundy said.

The soccer world has been rocked this week by a report from European police that hundreds of matches around the world had been fixed by criminal gangs based in Singapore.

(Reporting by James Grubel, Writing by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Michael Perry)